The herding skill gives the character a knowledge of horses and other herd animals. Breed Horses The herdsman can breed two horses and produce a new horse (offspring). Using the herding skill on a tamed horse will prompt the player to select "which horse do you wish to breed with?" Targeting another tamed horse will (after a short interval) result in the creation of a third, new horse, a foal. The new 'foal' is not initially ridable, but it is automatically tamed and can be transferred to another character. It must be stabled for 3 days before it can be ridden. Rare horses are initially stronger than regular horses in terms of hit points, but do no more melee damage.These horses can be trained to become warhorses. (see below) The color of the foal depends on the parents. If they are identical hues, then the offspring will (generally) have the same hue. If they are different, the result will be a random color (from the set of defined hues). Breeding done with normal horses will most likely result in one of the "original" colors, and the results are normal horses. There is a (herding /5) % chance that the offspring of two normals will be a rare horse. At GM there is a 20% chance of breeding a rare horse from two normals. Breeding a normal with a rare gives a (herding / 2) % chance of having a rare foal result (50% at GM). Conversely, breeding a pair of rare horses has a (20 - herding / 5) % chance of resulting in a normal foal. (20% at 80 skill, 0% at GM). The goal of this suggestion is to increase the variety and style of horses while creating a new profession from a "mostly" useless skill. Normal foals can be sold to the stablemaster for 150 gold. Rare foals can be sold to the stablemaster for 400 gold. A particular horse may be bred only once per day. (Note that there is no gender assigned to the horses in this scheme.) I suppose the same could be done with llamas, to create battle-llamas... but I did not find any hue examples. Taming Bonus The herdsman gains a passive bonus to the taming skill based on herding level (up to +10%) (skill/10) Veterinary Bonus The herdsman gains a passive bonus to the veterinary skill based on herding level - heal up to 10 points more (skill/10) Train Warhorse The herdsman is adept at training herd animals. The herdsman can train a rare horse into a warhorse. The animal can deal more melee damage than a regular horse, and gains significantly more hit points, armor class - equal to that of a brown bear. The animal passively trains while the herdsman rides them. It takes 1 hour elapsed riding time to train a horse into becoming a warhorse. Each subsequent hour trains the warhorse in combat skills, without needing to make it fight. Once the horse is trained, it receives a title tag [warhorse], and can gain more skills and stats than a normal horse. It takes 50 herding skill to own and ride a trained warhorse. Players without the skill requirement will not be able to accept the transfer. If the player loses the skill requirement, the horse can no longer be mounted. If the player never dismounts the horse, it can be ridden, but any benefits from riding a warhorse (see below) are negated. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *The goal was to make the training and breeding of warhorses a viable "craft" skill / hobby skill but one that brings actual combat benefits making it desirable as a skill on a pvm/pvp template since it represents the 7th skill of a 7x template. If deemed too problematic or balance-risking, it can be removed. Mounted Combat Expertise The herding skill translates to expertise at riding trained horses in combat. The following benefits are gained when riding a trained warhorse: - A bonus to armor rating due to the heightened ability to control the horse and use it defensively (based on herding skill). (skill/10) (+10 AR at GM) - The herdsman gains a bonus to parry when mounted (with a shield equipped), based on their herding skill (up to 10%). (capped at 60% parry at 100/100) - Being adept at using the force and speed of the mount to enhance an attack with a long weapon, the herder gains a bonus to damage with polearms : (spear (long), halberd, bardiche, quarterstaff, blackstaff, gnarled staff, pitchfork, shepherd's crook). Damage bonus is herding / 10. (+10 at GM). - With sufficient archery and herding skill (80/80) while mounted on a trained warhorse, the herder can fire a moving shot with a bow (not a crossbow or heavy crossbow) without the need to pause for .25 seconds. The moving shot suffers a -20 attack penalty at 80/80, -10 until 90/90 and a -5 penalty at 100/100. Jousting Dismounting opponents is of course quite unbalancing to pvp combat. This idea is to implement a consensual jousting component. A player riding a warhorse can challenge another player riding a trained warhorse to a joust. The other player must accept the challenge (gump option). While in jousting mode, the next attack that lands upon either player will dismount them. The herding skill provides a bonus to jousting when determining the attack roll. (melee skill + jousting / 5). There are certainly opportunities for pvp exploits of jousting, so while this is interesting, I think it may be more trouble than it is worth. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
